ABSTRACT
Objectives: To evaluate the efficacy of chlorohexidine mouthrinse as a pre-procedural rinse in reducing streptococcal bacterial colonies.Study Design: A single-centre, double-masked, placebo-controlled randomised clinical trial conducted over a period of 15 days. 6 patients were included in the study, patients were first asked to rinse with the placebo (distilled water) for 1 minute before the scaling of control site followed by test site rinsing with chlorhexidine mouthwash for 1 minute. The microbial contamination was checked in the operatory, operator’s mouth mask, the patient’s chest, the operator’s chest and the patient’s breath with the help of agar plates. Results: The results revealed that there was statistically significant reduction in the Colony Forming Units (CFU's) formation. Paired sampled t test was used for checking the statistical significance, confidence interval (CI) was 95% and (p<0.05).There was statistical reduction in CFU's in breath sample, 30 minutes after scaling and less number of CFU’s were formed on the operator’s mask after the scaling of the patients with the use of chlorhexidine as the pre-procedural rinse compared to distilled water. Conclusion: The 0.2% chlorohexidine mouth rinse as a pre-procedural rinse has comparatively greater efficacy than distilled water in reduction of streptococcal colony forming units, however this finding was not statistically significant.[Sachit A NJIRM 2016; 7(5):46-52]